Harness Weekly Update: 53% in the money

The TwinSpires Harness Blog Weekly Update covers our successes and failures from selected features and the H2W (horses-to-watch list). H2W horses through the following Monday appear in the next Update’s results.

Thursday, Feb. 24

This week’s Mohawk Miles contenders were both defeated by public choices. Soverato (31-1) finished fifth and Wickenburgh (9-5) finished 10th.

In the Mohawk features, Awesome Hill ($4.10, $2.4., $2.20) won the Ontario Girls Mare Pacing Series’ first leg. Bottomoftheninth ($3.10) was third, and Just Daisy (9-5) took fifth.

The final of the Wine & Roses Trotting Series for three- and four-year-old fillies and mares was won by a 9-5 shot. We finished second with BCs Rose ($3.20, $2.10), the public choice, while Draven Hanover (12-1) completed the mile in fourth.

Friday, Feb. 25

Our feature at Hawthorne was insult to injury as one of our recent H2W horses won after failing twice on the list. Our choices here, Keene William (13-1) and Canthelpbutwin (4-1), finished seventh and fourth, respectively. The winner paid at 5-2. Check H2W winners below for a Hawthorne bet-back winner, The Bucket.

Saturday, Feb. 26

Although we had the winner among our three-pronged contender team aimed at exotics, we were without the luck of having two contenders compete without incident. The winner was Umberto ($4.10, $3.00, $2.80). The others never had a chance due to galloping badly instead of pacing: Hestherightstuff (5-1) and Steel Reefer (6-1) jumped leaving the gate and were eliminated.

At the Meadowlands, we targeted one horse and he raced well, as expected, but Pretty Ricki ($3.40, $3.60 OK) finished second to the race favorite. That exacta paid $11.40.

H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Exactas listed include a H2W horse finishing second to a race-favorite or if the first two finishers are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses are listed—a cold exacta; most prices are for $2 exactas). The note “OK” determines that prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).

Please note that some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).

This week, there were 38 H2W horses (a 29-percent win-hit rate and a 53-percent ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Shvaiko, $14.20, $7.40, $4.40, Meadowlands
Heartland Eclipse, $11.60, $6.20, $2.70, Monticello
The Bucket, $9.40, $5.80, $3.60, Hawthorne
Avaya Hanover, $9.00, $5.00, $4.20, Cal Expo
YS Tallia, $7.20, $4.40, $2.70, Yonkers
Moonlitebeach, $5.70, $5.30, $2.70), Mohawk
Warrawee Nonsuch, $5.30, $3.20, $2.20, Saratoga
PL Oscar, $4.40, $3.50, $2.40, Yonkers
Fireball, $4.30, 2.80, $2.40, Saratoga
Octave, $3.80, $2.40, $2.60 ok, Meadows
Howyadoinbub, $3.60, $2.20, $2.10, Miami

Seconds

Alilthundadownunda, $6.60, $5.00, Cal Expo
Stan The Man, $4.80, $2.20 (Exacta $13.00), Freehold
Rocks Fantasy, $3.90, $2.30 (Exacta $3.90), Monticello
Bar Harbor, $2.80, $2.10 (Exacta $3.80), Meadows
Peters Royalty, $2.60, $2.20 (Exacta $7.60), Miami
Star Of Oz, $2.40, $2.10, Hawthorne

Thirds

Bereaved Hanover, $3.40, Meadows
Native Ideal, $3.20, Freehold
Class Hero, $2.40, Freehold

NEWS & NOTES

Century Downs welcomed back fans, horses and horsepeople for the 2022 season on Saturday, Feb. 26 with a 2:15 p.m. (MT) post. It was opening day for 56 dates lined up from Feb. 26 through Nov. 5. Racing takes place on Saturday afternoons until Tuesday cards are worked into the mix starting Apr. 19.

Tioga and Vernon host the $1 million Empire Breeders Classic (EBC) for New York-sired three-year-old pacers and trotters this summer. EBC races as a single event (no elims) divided with the purse and entry fee split equally by the number of divisions. This year, the EBC trotting stakes is held at Vernon on June 17 while the pacers are scheduled for Aug. 28 at Tioga.

Test Of Faith became the fourth three-year-old pacing female named Horse of the Year, receiving harness racing’s top honor for 2021 by the U.S. Harness Writers Association. The Brett Pelling-trained filly joined Rainbow Blue (2004), Bunny Lake (2001) and Fan Hanover (1981) on the list of sophomore pacing females to be named Horse of the Year.

With Test Of Faith winning the top category, Pelling has trained two Horse of the Year winners. Test Of Faith joins Rocknroll Hanover, the winner in 2005. David Miller was the regular driver of two previous Horses of the Year, Always B Miki in 2016 and No Pan Intended in 2003.

Extraordinary Extras

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